How to have same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life

Tomodachi Life, due out on 6 June, is a 3DS simulator game where you have to take care of a town full of Miis. Developer Nintendo garnered the ire of fans when it was noted that the game would not allow Miis of the same gender to fall in love with each other.

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Nintendo has since apologised and said that it would endeavour to be more inclusive in future iterations of the game -- but that it could not alter the current game.

However, there is a way -- an imperfect way, but a way nevertheless -- to make it happen. You see, the in-game Mii creator allows you to put any features, personality, clothing and voice on your Mii. So, say, starting with a male Mii, you can add a female hairstyle, facial features, makeup, name and voice, and dress her in female clothing from the clothing store.

Meet Jessi. Note the gender field on the bottom screen. For all practical purposes in the game -- that is, falling in love, getting married, having babies -- Jessi will be attracted to female Miis.

Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET

Likewise, Bob will be attracted to male Miis. Now, we're not entirely sure how pregnancy works in the game, since we've not played it that far ahead, so it is entirely possible that Bob could, well, have a baby in his belly at some point.

Screenshot by Michelle Starr/CNET

Bob, if he ever gets married will also wear a wedding dress on the big day, and other characters in the game will use the gender pronouns for these characters' base gender -- calling Jessi "he" and Bob "she" -- which is jarring. As we said, it's an imperfect solution -- but if you want to play same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life, for some, it may be a better solution than none at all.